3pt3 Scribbled Out The Truth
by Lamby
Summary: During a fight with a new mutant called Paradox, Nightcrawler is zapped and teleports into another world where everything is very different and the X-Men do not exist.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**A/N:** After two stories containing tentacle-y monsters I promise not to do the same again this time! This story is loosely inspired by Corrinth's brilliant What Might Have Been, which is set in our joint Movie-verse timeline.

**Scene One **

The sounds of a fight ricochet around the docks, distorted by the stacked shipping crates and by the gently lapping water. The dark night sky was occasionally lit up in shades of fiery orange or explosive fuchsia. Flashes of unnatural lilac completed the light show. Periodically tendrils of grey smoke appeared, marking the movements of a teleporting mutant named Kurt Wagner, also called Nightcrawler.

Kurt was one of five X-Men who had been tracking a renegade mutant through Bayville's industrial quarter. Alongside the blue-furred German boy were the Cajun thief and former Acolyte Gambit, Professor Xavier's grown-up animorphing daughter Ilehana, the feisty British redhead Blaze and Kurt's fellow Bayville High student Shadowcat. Ilehana, the Vixen, had led the team onto the docks in pursuit of their quarry. She had taken her favourite shape of a grey wolf, using the wolf's sense of smell to track their opponent. The other X-Men wore their uniforms proudly, albeit that Gambit was also sporting his traditional trench coat.

The team had pinned their opponent in a deserted corner of the dock complex. He was a scoundrel newly arrived in Bayville. The Professor had been watching his movements via Cerebro for several days, growing increasingly concerned each time the newcomer used his mutant powers. His chosen name was Paradox. Standing over six feet in height, lean, black skinned and with a smirking face he was a confident figure. So confident in fact he thought nothing of turning and attacking a team of five on their home turf.

The Professor had good reason to be worried. Everything the team tried to bring Paradox under control the newcomer merely deflected with blasts of his purple energy. Blaze's fireballs turned to ash on the air, or froze and dropped as ice to break on the deck. Gambit's playing cards turned into butterflies and fluttered away, or else changed into confetti that pattered into the water like rain. When the Cajun started forwards, resorting to his staff weapon to give Paradox a good beating, the extendable staff turned into a great green snake. Remy yelped, dropping the viper and stamping on it. The deck promptly turned to black tar and he started to sink.

"Blaze!" Remy shouted, "A li'l help here Cherie!"

"Hold your horses Rem," Blaze called back, torching a swarm of wasps that had appeared from her fireballs moments ago. "I'm getting to it!" Finishing the insects off with a flourish, she ran to Gambit's aid and burnt away the tar. Gambit found himself back on solid ground and surprisingly not charred to a crisp.

"A hand would have done Chere," he told Blaze drolly, brushing ash from the sleeve of his coat.

"Where's the fun in that?" was Blaze's reply, nudging her boyfriend playfully with her hip.

#If it's not interrupting your social calendar,# Vixen teased warmly in both her friend's heads, #there's a mutant here who needs teaching a lesson.#

Mildly chastened, Blaze and Gambit turned back to the task in hand. Ilehana had climbed up the packing crates behind Paradox. With a deft leap she landed on his back, biting down on his neck. He was suddenly wearing steel plate armour that then promptly disappeared. Vixen was deposited none-to-gently on the deck, whimpering at her sore mouth. Shadowcat tried to sink Paradox into the wooden planks of the dock, but found that she was the one who was falling through the deck.

"Kurt!" Kitty screeched, "help!"

Kurt saw Shadowcat slip through the floor and acted quickly. He used his teleportation to disappear below the dock, catching Kitty before she hit the water. In the same instant he teleported back to the dock. Depositing his disorientated friend, Kurt did a succession of three teleports to close the distance between himself and Paradox. His approach was jagged, so there was no way that Paradox could know which direction Kurt would arrive in. Yet somehow Paradox did know. The big man caught Kurt by the arm just as he reappeared.

"Hey!" Kurt objected as he was thrown across the dock, landing on the floor with a thump. "Play fair!"

"The rules are what you make them," Paradox replied with a smile. He lifted his palm and beckoned Kurt to attack again. "The truth can be scribbled out."

#Nightcrawler no!# Vixen ordered, but Kurt had already risen to the bait. He used his powers exactly at the moment when a purple blast hit him square in the midriff. Gasping from the force of the impact, Kurt teleported and disappeared…

Roll titles………………………..


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Two**

…And reappeared. Kurt breathed in with relief, recovering from the winding Paradox's blast had caused him. His eyes were screwed tight shut. Everything was quiet. Cautiously Kurt opened first his left eye, and then his right. Where was he? Where was the fight? Two confused faces were staring back at him, one pair of predatory Xavier eyes, one with distinctive red-on-black ones. Kurt grinned. Everything was alright. Paradox's blast mustn't have had much effect.

"Whoa am I glad to see you guys!" Kurt asked Ilehana and Gambit. He glanced around, seeing that they were back in the Professor's office at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. "How long was I gone for?"

There was a distinct look of incomprehension on the faces of both Vixen and Remy. Slowly the two older mutants looked at each other, and then back at their companion. With his lip drawn back in distain, Gambit asked, "Ain't dat Mystique's boy?"

"What are you doing here Nightcrawler?" Vixen asked coolly. "Mystique couldn't find a more cunning way to spy on us?"

"What are you talking about?" Kurt was confused. "Did we win the fight?"

"What fight?" Vixen said.

"Against Paradox, y'know. We were just there?"

"I don't think so Kurt," Vixen spat with contempt on her face. "The last time we fought alongside you, your coward of a mother lost her nerve and you both abandoned us."

"But…but…but…" stuttered Kurt.

"But…but…but…" mocked Remy.

"What about Kitty and Blaze?"

"Who?" Gambit asked nonchalantly.

"Blaze!" Kurt yelled at him as if that would make him remember. "You're dating her. You're smitten with each other!" Gambit tensed up, piercing Kurt with a sharp look as he very deliberately put an arm around Vixen's slender shoulders. The blonde woman leant back into his embrace.

"You tryin' to get a guy in trouble?" Remy complained. Vixen laughed a cold bark of a laugh, sneering at the distress on Kurt's furry blue face.

"What?" The German boy asked, "Nien, this is not right. Where is Professor Xavier?"

"What do you want with my father?" Vixen said.

"You've all been brainwashed!" cried Kurt. "The Professor has to fix it!"

"Ha, small chance of that," Vixen told him, "but if you want to pay him a visit, you'll find him in the churchyard."

"Great, thanks!" Kurt told her, and disappeared.

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Bamf!

"Professor?" Kurt called out as he reappeared in the dark and gloomy churchyard. A sliver of moon showed itself briefly from behind a cloud. Somewhere an owl hooted, whilst in the long grass small mammals skittered back and forth unseen. "Professor!" Kurt wandered between the gravestones, but he could see no sign of the Professor. He took a left and wandered off the path, ascending a grassy knoll.

A figure rose up from the darkness, standing so still at first Nightcrawler thought it was a statue. On closer inspection, the figure was a tall man in a full-length greatcoat. Activating his image inducer, Kurt cleared his throat and addressed the man. "Excuse me sir, have you seen…"

Nightcrawler gasped as the figure turned towards the sound of his voice. Magneto looked down upon Kurt solemnly, then with a wave of his hand used his magnetic powers to deactivate Kurt's disguise.

"Nightcrawler, I did not recognise you for a moment. Your mother has obtained an interesting toy for you. What brings you to Bayville? I thought that Mystique judged it too dangerous to stay here and had withdrawn to warmer climes."

"I… I was looking for Professor Xavier."

"Then you have found him," Magneto answered sadly. "Charles Xavier is right here." Magneto stood back just as the moon once more broke through the clouds. The silver ethereal light illuminated the gravestone Magneto had been standing by. Kurt took two steps forward to read the inscription aloud.

"Here lies Professor Charles Xavier, beloved husband and father, taken before his time. Also his loving wife…" Kurt looked up at Magneto horrified. "They died on the same day?"

"Indeed," Magneto closed his eyes to remember the tragedy. "It was a family excursion gone tragically wrong. Only a young Ilehana survived when an untrained mutant brought a building down on all their heads. I lost my closest friend that day boy."

"No, it can't be!" Kurt was devastated. "Ilehana's mother was killed, but the Professor should not have been there…"

"But he was," Magneto said, resting his hand on Kurt's shoulder, "and Ilehana was orphaned. I took her in and raised her as my own. She is my Goddaughter after all. I still care for her even now, even after all she has done. She is all that is left of him. Tell me Kurt, why this sudden interest in ancient history?"

"It's not ancient history! This is all wrong. The Professor was fine just this morning. I ate breakfast with him. Now he's dead?" Kurt pushed Magneto's hand away and staggered backwards, clearly in distress. "It's not just the Professor either. Gambit has never heard of Blaze, Ilehana got scary and you're… you're… It's just wrong! Everything is wrong! What happened to the X-Men?"

"Kurt," Magneto said, his eyes scanning the tree line with a look that could have been nervousness. "I believe that you and I need to go somewhere where we can talk. Will you join me?"

Kurt gulped. Should he trust the mortal enemy of the X-Men? The thought of going back to the mansion and facing Ilehana again gave him goose bumps. He had to trust someone, and if not Vixen then whom could he turn to? Looking up at Magneto, he swallowed his fears and agreed, "Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Three**

"The Brotherhood House?" Kurt exclaimed in shock. Magneto walked straight to the mailbox and opened it. He threw the newspaper it contained straight into the recycling, and summoning the keys from his pocket he walked up the path to the front door.

"The Brotherhood of Mutants resides at the Xavier Mansion with Ilehana. This is my house. Please make yourself at home."

"Weird," breathed Kurt as he followed Magneto over the threshold, pausing in the hallway to admire how clean and tidy the house was, compared to how he normally knew it. Blob and Toad didn't live here for sure. Following Magneto into the lounge, Kurt sat down on the sofa. Magneto took a chair and then addressed Kurt calmly.

"I need you to tell me everything that has occurred. Take your time Kurt, I am in no hurry. Leave no detail out that you think might be important."

"Oh, okay," Kurt took a breath and wondered where to begin. "We were fighting a mutant named Paradox. I think he zapped me."

"Who is 'we'?" Magneto wanted to know.

"The X-Men, or some of us," Kurt frowned. "There was me, Kitty, Blaze, Gambit and Ilehana. The Professor wanted us to follow Paradox and see what he was up to, only he attacked us on the docks. We were fighting back then I teleported and I was back at the mansion, only everything was different."

Magneto looked perplexed, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Kurt I need you to go back further than that. You must tell me, who are the X-Men?"

"Oooh," Kurt grasped what Magneto wanted. With the older mutant listening in silence, Kurt did his best to explain all he knew about the X-Men and about Charles Xavier's life work since the tragic death of his wife. When he was finished, Kurt watched as Magneto remained pensive, considering all he had been told for a few moments. Finally Magneto spoke.

"I believe I know what has happened to you Kurt. I know this Paradox. Here, as I believe he may also be in your world, he is a powerful mutant working for a human crime lord named Alessandro Jacobi. Paradox's attacks bend the laws of physics, allowing the improbable and even the impossible to happen. As he struck you, you teleported out of your own timeline and into one where Charles Xavier died young.

"Allow me," Magneto continued, "to enlighten you to events in this world. Here there are no X-Men. Bayville is at war. On the one side is Alessandro Jacobi, a human with a mixed human and mutant mercenary army. He controls the local government, the mayor, the police, the media- everything. On the other side are Ilehana Xavier and her Brotherhood of Mutants."

"So Ilehana is a good guy after all?"

"Absolutely not."

"But she's fighting Jacobi?"

"For control of Bayville," Magneto elaborated. "Not for the greater good. You need to understand Kurt, when the Xaviers died Ilehana was distraught and heartbroken. I did my best to raise her as Charles would have wanted, but as she grew the heartbreak became bitterness and hatred which she harboured against the world that was cruel enough to leave her an orphan.

"I had been building the Brotherhood to fight for the rights of mutants, but my views did not go far enough for Ilehana. Together with her lover Gambit, they wrestled control of the Brotherhood away from me. My own son and daughter, Pietro and Wanda, sided with their foster sister over me. They threw me out of the Xavier Mansion. I have been here ever since, watching as they tear Bayville to pieces like wolves devouring a fat elk."

"Can no one stand against her?" Kurt asked.

"There was one who might have been able to, a girl telepath and telekinetic named Jean Grey. Given time and training she might have been able to defeat Ilehana. Vixen did not give her time. Ilehana challenged Jean to a telepathic battle and though the fight was closer than I think Vixen would admit, there could only be one winner."

"Vixen killed Jean?" gasped Nightcrawler.

"No," Magneto shook his head. "That would have been more merciful. Vixen left Jean a drooling wreck, unable to care for herself or even speak. After that no one dared challenge Vixen directly."

Kurt lurched to his feet, appalled by what he was hearing. "We have to do something! She has to be stopped!"

"I agree Kurt," Magneto confided. "I agree, but we have no X-Men here, no one brave enough to take up the fight."

"You're wrong," Kurt stood with his arms folded and his tail whipping the air decisively. "I'm here. The others are here too. Perhaps if I can find the X-Men from my world in this world, I can talk them into making a stand against the Brotherhood and Jacobi."

"You truly believe that will work?" Magneto asked. "That despite Xavier's death his dream might still bear fruit?"

Kurt had only one answer for Magneto, "We owe it to him to try…"

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At the Xavier Mansion, Vixen had locked herself away in her office, but that never stopped Gambit. He entered the subtly-lit room to find Ilehana working at a computer with her back to the door. He knew that she knew he was there, so he approached and stood behind her. Gently he massaged the tension from the back of her neck as he reported.

"I spoke to Rogue. Far as she knows, Mystique and her boy are still in Asia. It too hot for dem 'round here right now, n'est pas?"

"You're sure Rogue isn't protecting her foster mother and brother? She is an accomplished liar."

"She won't lie to me," Gambit said softly.

"You sound very sure Remy," there was an accusation in Vixen's tone. "Is there something you're hiding from me?"

"Non Cherie," Remy felt Vixen touch his mind with her telepathy. He thought to her #You're welcome to check. The only impure t'oughts up here 'bout you.#

Ilehana wasn't sure if Gambit was double-bluffing her, his openness to her telepathic probing seeming suspect to her. Then again if he was telling the truth did she risk pushing him too far if she went poking around in his mind and he was being truthful? Reluctantly she broke the contact rather than force the issue. Gambit thankfully changed the subject, peering over her shoulder to assess the computer screen.

"It arrived den?" he asked.

"Yes, finally… It's being held in an impenetrable SHIELD storage facility just outside Bayville."

"Impenetrable?" Gambit smelt a challenge.

"So I'm told," Ilehana grimaced. "The only copies of the plans for the building are at the central archives office. We are going to need to study them to find a weakness. I want you to steal the plans for me."

"I t'ought you'd never ask," chuckled Remy. Vixen smiled too, but she had a cautionary note to add.

"Jacobi is bound to be thinking the same as I am. This is too good an opportunity to miss. He'll have sent someone to get the plans too."

"So?"

"So be careful."

Gambit kissed her cheek and turned to leave, saying, "You getting' soft on me Cherie?" Vixen bared her teeth in a silent snarl, but she made no moves to affirm or deny the accusation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**A/N:** Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

**Scene Four**

In the dead of night, Gambit stole across the street and approached Bayville Town Hall. His trench coat billowed behind him as he skirted around the side of the building, looking for a way in. Taking his staff from his pocket and extending it, he pole-vaulted on top of a row of metal garbage containers. Retracting the staff, he jumped from the trashcans onto a fire escape, and then jogged up the stairs to the top of the building. Climbing onto the railing of the fire escape, he stepped across onto a window ledge on the top floor, reached up and pulled himself onto the rooftop.

Gambit paused for a moment to catch his breath, and then moved across the flat roof to a projecting skylight. Looking down through the glass, he saw a room filled with filing cabinets. A dab of his finger popped the latch on the skylight and he pulled the glass aside. Turning and lowering himself into the building, he dropped carefully on top of a cabinet and then onto the floor. He was in. Straight away, he narrowed his eyes, searching the darkened office for any security systems. There was a camera on the wall above the door. For a moment, Gambit thought he must have been spotted. He held his breath, but there was no movement from the camera, not even a contracting of the lens as it focussed, and no blinking LCD to indicate the camera was on. After a moment when no alarms sounded in the building, Gambit presumed he was in the clear.

Feeling lucky, Gambit dismissed the camera as malfunctioning and crossed the room to the door. There was an electric lock on the door that needed to be deactivated by a swipe card. Gambit took a card, the eight of clubs to be exact, and charged it. As he moved the card up to the lock, the light from his mutant ability illuminated the area. To Gambit's surprise, he saw that the lock was already disengaged. Putting the card away, he took the door by the handle and it swung open easily. This was getting weird.

The town record office was on the top floor, at the rear of the Town Hall. It took up a suite of eight or nine offices as well as a large library of plans and other documents. Gambit headed straight for the library, hoping to find the original plans for the building that Vixen was interested in. He by-passed the computer systems entirely, knowing that if the plans were stored electronically, Vixen would already have organised someone to hack in and download them. It pleased him that his old-fashioned style of breaking in and taking stuff was still useful. It gave him the excuse to practice his hobby.

Passing under yet another inactive CCTV camera, Gambit paused by the library door. Suddenly all the absent security made perfect sense. There was a glimmer of light shining from underneath the door. Someone had made it here before him. There was nothing for it, Gambit took a selection of cards from his pocket and shuffled them in his hand, ready for anything. Then he put his hand to the door and pushed it open.

Behind a desk, between two large racks holding rolled up plans and permissions, a girl sat cross-legged on the floor with her head down and hair tied back. She had the lamp from the desk besides her, as she studied a heap of documents on her lap and at her feet. The light from the lamp washed the colour from her skin and made her hair impossibly dark, giving her a ghostlike appearance. Her lips moved as she read, muttering to herself. She wore a tight fitting white blouse and around her neck hung a laminated ID card on a lace. Gambit didn't have to read the ID card to know what it said; BDN – Bayville District News. She was one of Jacobi's lackeys, and the card named her as Erin Connor.

"Workin' late?" Gambit addressed her, smiling as she jumped at the sound of his voice. She did not look over though, steeling herself and continuing to read the documents. "Dey recruitin' young at BDN, eh? Shouldn't you still be deliverin' the news, not reportin' it?" The girl glanced over and shot him a withering look, but she still did not speak. Instead she started to gather the documents and papers together in her hands. Gambit set all joviality aside as he told her, "I ain't gonna let you take those Petite."

"Who said I was taking 'em?" When she finally spoke, the girl had a northern English accent. She dumped all the plans in a pile on the floor, then tapped two fingers to the side of her forehead. "Everything I need to know is right here." Dropping her hand she made a fist over the stack of papers. "If I were you I'd move back a bit. It's gonna get toasty in here." Opening her palm revealed a fireball, ready and waiting. Gambit scowled.

"You work for Jacobi, mutant. Dat makes you a traitor to your own kind."

"My kind?" pouted the girl. "My kind have never done anything for me." The fireball leapt from her hand and set the papers on fire with a whoosh. The dancing flames made intricate shadows on the wall. The smell of burning paper was acrid in Gambit's nose. He was momentarily blinded by the flash, and when his vision cleared the girl was stalking out of the room past him. She lifted a hand to her head and tugged loose her hair tie. A mass of red curls fell loose about her shoulders as she gave a wicked smile. "Sorry hot stuff, I guess you lose."

Thinking quickly, Gambit lurched for the fire extinguisher that stood by the door. He pulled the pin, squeezed the trigger and let off a test blast of carbon dioxide gas. The sound of the gas jet made the redhead turn back.

"Oh plur-lease," she rolled her big brown eyes at him, one hand on her hip. "That is never going to work, the plans are well alight."

"It ain't for the plans," Gambit told her. He raised the extinguisher and blasted her with it. The girl flew across the room, hit the wall and was knocked out.

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Vixen was in her study, alone, when Gambit opened the door and pushed his groggy captive into the room.

"You were right," Remy told his partner. "Jacobi did send someone." He tossed the laminated keycard that had been around the girl's neck onto Vixen's desk. "Erin Connor. She a mutant, she torched the plans before I could get dem."

Vixen lurched to her feet, irate. She grabbed the card and used it to point angrily at Gambit. "Damn it Remy! I told you to bring me the plans, not one of Jacobi's minions!"

"I did bring you the plans, Cherie." Gambit tried to stay calm and not snap back at his great leader. "De girl says she's memorised dem, non?"

Vixen was suddenly very interested in the girl. She straightened up and walked around her desk to stand in front of the minion. Absently she tapped the keycard in her palm, looking the girl over with predatory eyes. The girl refused to be beaten; she kept her chin up and met Vixen's eyes squarely. When Vixen said nothing, Jacobi's minion made the first move.

"I'm only in this for the money," she said hotly. "Make me a better offer than Jacobi has, and the plans are yours."

"Why," asked Vixen, "would I want to pay for something that I can just take?"

"You're a telepath?" the girl asked. Vixen gave one slow nod, a wry smile on her face that bared a perfect white canine. "The I should warn you that it is standard operating procedure at Bayville District News that all operatives have their minds shielded from telepathic attack."

"Mastermind has shielded you?" Vixen was almost laughing. The girl didn't answer. "That sounds like a challenge."

"I'll burn this whole place down," countered the girl thief, "before I'll let you take this information without paying."

"I doubt that very much," countered Vixen. There was a knock at the door and Pyro stuck his head around the doorframe.

"You hollered Ma'am?" the Aussie asked.

"Yes," Vixen didn't break her staring match with the girl as she directed her lackey. "Help Gambit take our guest down to the Danger Room. If she tries to burn anything, I expect you to absorb the fire, understand?" It wasn't a question, not really, but both Pyro and Gambit assented anyway. "Good," Vixen broke the staring match, turning away as Pyro and Gambit seized the girl by the arms. "I will be down momentarily."

Pyro and Gambit half-dragged, half-carried the girl down to the mansion's lower levels. Three times she tried to set things alight, and three times Pyro lazily deflected and absorbed the blasts. After the third time, the girl stopped trying. Pyro thought he had her beaten, but Gambit sensed the girl was just saving her strength for Vixen.

The doors to the Danger Room breezed open and they entered the chamber. A metal throne was waiting in the centre of the room. Gambit forced the girl to sit with a deft twist of her arm. She didn't cry out, not even when he slapped the metal restraints over her skinny wrists and ankles. Pyro pressed a button in a console on the wall, and a translucent bubble of fireproof glass encased the girl. Job done, Pyro withdrew to fetch Vixen a chair. Gambit paused, looking down on the girl who refused to meet his red-on-black eyes.

"A word of advice, Petite," he told her quietly. "Don't fight her. You won't win."

"I won't back down," she replied. "I don't work for free."

"It won't be pretty."

"So look the other way," she said nastily. "I bet you're quite good at that."

"She'll kill you!"

"Ha," the girl was dismissive, glaring at the doorway through which Vixen would soon arrive. "She'll kill me anyway as soon as she has what she wants. At least this way I'll go out fighting."

"Very brave," Gambit muttered, half to himself.

"Brave or stupid," the girl admitted. "Who can tell?" She glanced up at him with a wan smile, betraying her fear. Gambit felt sorry for her, despite his loyalty to Ilehana.

"Your name's not really Erin Connor, is it?"

"No."

"You gonna tell me what it really is?"

"Unlikely," the girl looked away again, disgusted with him for asking.

"I could be the last friendly face you see," tried Remy.

"I seem to remember you knocked me out and abducted me," the girl replied. "What part of that do you describe as friendly?"

Gambit just looked at her, unable for once to think of a reply. When he didn't answer, she glanced back at him with her liquid brown eyes betraying her anxiety. Remy could only shrug in what might have been an apology. The girl's head fell and the fight seemed to go out of her. Gambit turned to walk away, only to hear her mutter, "I'm Blaze…."

"Wha…" Gambit started to turn back to her, but Vixen chose that moment to make her entrance. Impatiently she addressed her lackeys.

"Gambit, Pyro, wait outside." Vixen took the seat Pyro offered and placed it opposite where Blaze was imprisoned. "Last chance girl," Vixen offered, hoping the answer would be no.

"I told you. Make me an offer and the information is yours."

"You're going to regret saying that," Vixen said with relish.

"Bring it on," replied Blaze, gritting her teeth and calling on all the fire she had inside of her. "Bring it on."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Five**

Gambit paced outside the Danger Room door, listening to Blaze's screams and the thunder of successive blasts of fire. Was it his imagination, or were both screams and fire-blasts getting weaker? Pyro got bored long before Vixen, leaving Gambit by himself in the lower levels. After what seemed like a lifetime, Gambit couldn't wait any longer. He opened the door and entered the room.

The imperious, sleek walls and floor of the Danger Room were still clean and bright. However beneath the fireproof bubble everything was charred black with soot. The glass was smudged so that he could not see through it. He couldn't tell if the girl lived or not. As he entered, Vixen stood abruptly and kicked the chair away in anger. Gambit tried not to be encouraged as he asked her, "Problem?"

"That scum Mastermind has been practicing," Vixen snapped, rubbing her temples with her long fingers. "The block on her mind is much stronger than he's managed before and she," she pointed a finger at the blackened bubble, "is being stubborn. She's reinforcing the barrier through willpower alone. I can't get through, not yet anyway."

"Will you be able to?" Remy asked.

"Of course, eventually she will tire and Mastermind's shield will begin to fade. It will only take one crack in the defences and I will have everything."

"Why don't you take a break, eh Cherie, get focused then try again?"

"Tempting," Vixen admitted, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. "She's not going anywhere." Gambit put his hands on her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. He turned her towards the door, guiding her from the room.

"Go get a coffee an' some fresh air, it smells like Armageddon in here."

"Alright, I will," Ilehana agreed, "but just for ten minutes."

"I'll mind the fort 'til you get back." Gambit promised. Vixen kissed his unshaven cheek and then left the room. The doors slid shut behind her. Gambit counted to ten to be sure she had gone. Then he reached out and toyed with the console that controlled the fire-shield. He turned back and crossed the room as the shield melted away and the cuffs holding Blaze down clicked open. Jacobi's minion slumped forward in the chair, her clothes in charred tatters and her skin blackened with more soot. Gambit dropped to his knees in front of her and lifted her chin. Her eyes stayed shut, so he called to her cautiously.

"Blaze, can you hear me Petite?"

Her eyes flickered open, "Get stuffed."

"Bien, you still you. I t'ought I might be too late. C'mon, I'm getting you outta here."

"What?" Blaze rallied at his words, finding the energy somewhere to lift her head and open her eyes wide. "Why?"

"'Cause I a t'ief long before I even heard o' Ilehana Xavier, an' she should've taken the deal you offered."

Gambit took off his trench coat and wrapped it around the girl, before lifting her manfully into his arms. She weighed about as much as a child, and she instinctively rested her head against his shoulder. Holding Blaze tightly, Gambit made his escape and tried not to think what Vixen would do to him when she found out that he had betrayed her.

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At Magneto's house, better known to Kurt as the Brotherhood's home, Magneto paced in the hallway whilst Nightcrawler made a phone call.

"Oh hello Mr Pryde," stuttered Kurt in his best English. "I'm a friend of Kitty's, can I please speak to her?" There was a pause, and Magneto listened carefully. "Hi Kitty, err, you don't know me but well I, err, I know you…" Magneto rolled his eyes and had to bite his tongue as the inevitable happened. "…No, wait… Don't hang up." In the other room, Kurt sighed and put the handset back in its cradle. Magneto went back into the room, trying to hide his disappointment.

"I thought you were recruiting X-Men, Kurt, not scaring school girls?"

"Not the best start, huh?" Kurt replied sheepishly.

"What did you expect," Magneto said as patiently as he could, "that those who are X-Men in your reality would be knocking down the door to join the team in this world too?"

"Eric!" Gambit shouted as he kicked the door open with one foot, cradling someone wrapped in his trench coat. "You better be home ole man, I need your help!" Gambit came straight into the lounge, to be greeted by Magneto and Nightcrawler just standing and staring at him. He ignored them both, staggering to the sofa and depositing his load ungracefully. The girl in the trench coat just moaned and curled up into a ball apathetically. Magneto recovered his senses first, "What happened Remy?" Gambit didn't get chance to answer as Kurt recognised the girl.

"Blaze! Gambit, you found her!"

"Ilehana happened, dat's what," explained Gambit. "Blaze was conscious when we left de mansion but she's fadin' fast. She's runnin' a temperature and she keeps nearly passin' out on me."

"No, no!" Kurt shook his head forcefully, "Blaze always has a temperature… Wait! I know what she needs." There was a poof of smoke and Kurt disappeared. Magneto was nonplussed, addressing his former associate coolly.

"I didn't think you had it in you to defy Ilehana, Remy."

"Me neither," admitted Gambit reluctantly. "Blaze started it, she stood up to Vixen an' wouldn't tell her the information she wanted. Vixen tried to read her mind, but Blaze is Jacobi's an' Mastermind put a blockade on her t'oughts. What I don't understand is how the blockade lasted so long. When Vixen gone up against 'em before Mastermind's shields have collapsed like a house o' cards."

"Then you don't know?" Magneto asked. Gambit shook his head, confused. Magneto proceeded to enlighten him, "Jacobi has recruited Emma Frost. Mastermind's house of cards has been reinforced with the White Queen's crystal."

"How do you know dat Eric?"

"The question is how does Ilehana not know? How could she go up against the combined skill of two telepaths and not know whom she was fighting? Rest assured Gambit, if she had known it would have been a matter of seconds for her to shatter the crystal and scatter the cards."

Quietly, Gambit admitted, "She's been… on edge a lot recently. She losin' it Eric, I'm sure."

"And now the swamp rat flees the sinking ship," Magneto pointed out.

"I'm not…" denied Gambit.

"What, you thought you could leave your new friend with me and go back to the Brotherhood? Be sensible Gambit. Vixen will know what you have done and she will punish you for it."

"What do I do?" asked Gambit, somewhat concerned.

BAMF! Kurt reappeared carrying a tray laden with iced donuts, cookies, potato chips, and a steaming mug of hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows.

"We're in luck," Kurt was pleased to announce as he placed the tray next to Blaze on a low table. "Magneto obviously is not watching his weight. He's got more junk food in there than a whole street of drive-thro's." He helped Blaze to sit and offered her the potato chips in a bowl.

"When you get to my age," Magneto was unabashed, "dieting seems rather a pointless exercise."

"Who'd a t'ought Magneto has a sweet tooth?" asked Gambit, pilfering a donut to make himself feel better. "What are you tryin' to do, make her throw up?"

"Mmrff, mffrf," said Blaze with a mouthful of crisps.

"No, no," said Kurt. "Blaze's metabolism runs fast to fuel her powers, that's why she felt hot to you. She has to eat a lot to compensate or she starts to pass out. Am I right?" he asked Blaze.

"Mrff, mmffrrph," Blaze replied, crunched and swallowed the mouthful. She gestured at the hot chocolate, which Kurt presented to her. Without a care for burning her tongue, which was unlikely anyway given her powers, she slurped a mouthful down and looked suddenly a lot brighter. "Not that I'm not grateful," she told Kurt, "but who are you and how do you know so much about me?"

"It's a long story," said Kurt.

"But worth hearing," Magneto justified. "You too Gambit. Make yourselves comfortable."

Gambit took the seat next to Blaze, who kept eating. Kurt took a breath, and then began.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Six**

"…And in my world," Kurt came to his big announcement at the end of his story, "you two are…" Gambit shook his head, glaring at Kurt. Nightcrawler gulped and changed his mind.

"Are what?" asked Blaze.

"X-Men," improvised Kurt. Gambit looked relieved.

"You said that already," Blaze pointed out, but she didn't have the energy yet to push the point.

"What do you both think?" Magneto asked.

"I think it sounds barking," Blaze announced, leaning back in the seat. Kurt didn't understand, so Blaze had to clarify, "Barking mad." She thought for a moment and then asked, "Can you prove it? What else do you know about me Kurt?"

"I know you are eighteen, nearly nineteen. You're a professional thief from Manchester in England. You were expelled from high school at fifteen, you're an orphan, you speak French and you think Gambit is cute."

"I'm amazed," replied Blaze. "That's mostly true."

"Which part ain't?" asked Remy, but was ignored.

"Alright, say I believe you," Blaze continued. "What now?"

"We need to find the other X-Men," said Magneto. "Convince them to make a stand. Charles Xavier wouldn't want Bayville to be ripped apart like this. We owe it to him to stop his daughter and stop Jacobi, before it's too late."

Gambit was sceptical, getting to his feet and striding across the room. "Jus' because Kurt says he's from another dimension, you wanna start a resistance? Eric, dis is insane. You failed to stop Vixen last time. What makes you t'ink you can stop her an' Jacobi dis time?"

"This time I won't be fighting alone," Magneto replied calmly.

"I'm sure the other X-Men will come round," Kurt pleaded. "We just need to convince them."

"Gambit?" asked Magneto.

"I…" Gambit looked from Magneto to Kurt, and then to Blaze. She just looked up at him with wide eyes and a dirty face, donut in her hand. He spoke to her more than to the others. "I can try to talk to Rogue, Berserker an' Boom Boom. I jus' gotta convince Ilehana dat I ain't no traitor, so she doesn't kill me the moment I show up at the mansion. Not easy when she can read your t'oughts."

"I'm sure you will think of something," encouraged Magneto.

"Might be better to think of nothing," Blaze observed wryly.

"If only we knew where Beast and Storm were," Kurt wondered.

"Hank McCoy and Ororo Munroe?" Blaze was startled. "I know exactly where they are. Hank is Jacobi's chief science officer. I can get to him, but it's pointless. You have no chance of turning him against Jacobi." Kurt looked so disappointed, but Blaze only had more bad news. "Ororo on the other hand I won't even get close to on my own. Jacobi keeps his wife very well protected."

"Hmm," pondered Magneto. "A problem indeed, but if you could get to her then you think that she may well listen to us?"

"Maybe," replied Blaze. "I hear the marriage isn't exactly made in heaven."

"Kurt can teleport," Magneto informed her. "With your knowledge of Jacobi's complex and security, I'm sure the two of you could get through to Ororo. To have Jacobi's wife and Ilehana's boyfriend on our side would provide us with a highly useful intelligence network."

"Vixen's what?" Blaze glanced at Gambit, scowling, "You? That explains a lot."

"What's dat supposed to mean?" asked Remy, but he was ignored.

"Will you try?" Kurt asked Blaze. "Will you help us speak to Storm?"

"I'll try," Blaze agreed, "but I can't go back looking like this." She indicated with a wave of her hand to her torched clothes. "Jacobi will know something went wrong and I'll be interrogated all over again. I've had enough of that for one day thanks."

"My daughter comes to visit once in a while," confided Magneto. "I think she has some clothes upstairs that should fit you. Her room is the first door on the right."

Blaze thanked Magneto politely and stood, wrapping Gambit's trench coat around her. It was much too big for her, trailing to the floor as she left the room to head upstairs. A short while later whilst Magneto quizzed Kurt on the X-Men, Gambit followed her. He pushed open the door to find Blaze washed and changed, combing her hair in front of Wanda's mirror.

"Tres bien," Remy said, making Blaze jump. "Wanda's clothes never look dat good on Wanda."

"Don't you knock?" complained Blaze. She had chosen a motley of Wanda's red and black; a black corset over a red lace top, a black skirt that barely scraped her thighs, red fishnet stockings and patent black knee-high boots. Picking up the trench coat from the bed, she threw it to the Cajun. He took it but did not leave. Perturbed she asked, "What do you want?"

"D'you believe any o' dis? Alternate worlds, cross-dimensional travellers, costumed superheroes…"

"I dunno," Blaze replied with a cute shrug, "there must be more than this… Besides how else could Kurt know all those things about me? No one knows me that well in Bayville." She suddenly pinned Gambit with an accusing stare. "Why do you care what I believe? I'm just one of Jacobi's hirelings, I should be nothing to Ilehana's partner. I've noticed your eyes are always glued to me. Don't think I'm stupid, I know you only decided to rescue me from Vixen _after_ you found out my name. Why is that? Has Kurt said something to you about me? Is that why you stopped him before when he was about to say something about you and me?"

"I didn't," Remy tried to argue.

"I saw you!" Blaze strode towards him. "I saw the reflection in the TV screen when you shook your head. Whatever Kurt had been about to say, he changed his mind and didn't say it. What was it? It must be something big because not only do you believe it, you're going against Ilehana because of it."

Gambit didn't respond, so Blaze changed tactic. She pouted, looking up at him through long dark lashes. Running a manicured nail just under the edge of his collar Blaze addressed the Cajun softly.

"We're all alone now," she reminded him. "There's no one listening in. It's just me and you. You can talk to me. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"Don't do this," he told her coolly.

"Do what?" Blaze knew exactly what she was doing, and was encouraged when Remy rested his hand lightly on her hip.

"Dis," he reiterated. "You don't know the kinda danger you're puttin' yourself in."

"Danger?" Blaze smiled wickedly. "Who's dangerous to me, Ilehana? I'm not scared of her. Or is it you I should be afraid of? Are you dangerous, Gambit?" Again Gambit didn't reply. Blaze let out a disappointed sigh and turned to leave. As a parting shot she told him, "If you want to play it like a game, well come on, let's play." Gambit caught her hand and spun her back around. To her surprise and delight, he kissed her…

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"Lets rock 'n' roll Kurt," Blaze told the German boy, bouncing down the stairs and flinging open the front door. Nightcrawler glanced at Magneto and then did as he was told. Blaze followed, closing the door behind her with a thud. Gambit came to stand at the bottom of the stairs and met Magneto's quizzical stare.

"Do we have a plan?" Magneto asked.

"There's a plan," Gambit answered, but he didn't expand on it. Magneto noted as Gambit left that the Cajun had been deliberately cryptic in his answer. He would have to keep a close eye on that one, but that was not unexpected...


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip. I am in no way implying that the BBC's new development MediaCity on Salford Quays, UK, is a villainous lair of any kind. I just couldn't think of a better name for a conglomeration of media type buildings than the one I can just about see from my office window.

**Scene Seven**

"Welcome to MediaCity," Blaze said to Kurt as they loitered in the gloomy mouth of a Bayville alleyway. They looked out onto a vast piazza with fountains and shrubberies, over which loomed glass and steel skyscrapers. Beyond the buildings, tower cranes were a clue that the development was not yet finished. People skittered backwards and forwards across the piazza, and a film crew was working on an outside broadcast by one of the fountains. Kurt's mind boggled. There was nothing like this in the Bayville he had come from. He told Blaze as much.

"It took a while to get the permissions through," Blaze admitted. "Jacobi pulled some strings to get Mayor Kelly into office, and this was one of the things he wanted in return. I think the site used to be the high school."

"Our school!"

"Yup," said Blaze. "Now every TV or radio broadcast and every newspaper in Bayville comes from this one site. Not to mention the endearing collection of loan sharks, pirates, bullies and criminals who hide behind the pretty buildings. Shall we go find Ororo?" She raised a hand and pointed at a skyscraper rooftop. Even from some distance away, Kurt could make out the greenery of a roof garden. "That's Storm's private apartment, no one has access to it except through Jacobi. Even I can't break in, but apparently you can?"

As a response, Kurt grasped Blaze's arm and teleported. They reappeared in a cloud of grey smoke amongst a grove of palms and flowering orchids, high above the piazza. Somewhere a woman was singing to herself, and there was the scrape of a trowel through soil. Together Blaze and Kurt stepped out of the bushes and the thief cleared her throat.

"What are you doing here?" Ororo snapped, brandishing her trowel at her guest as she got to her feet. Even when gardening, Storm was immaculately presented in shades of pastel green and white. "Blaze, isn't it? You are one of my husband's pet thieves. How did you get in here?"

"Magic," Blaze replied flippantly. "This is Kurt; he wants to speak to you. You should listen to him. He could be your way out of here."

"What do you mean, my way out of here?" Ororo was defensive.

"I mean you are one of the most powerful mutants I have ever met. Yet you spend your life locked away up here like Rapunzel, only rolled out by your husband when he has some stakeholders he wants to impress." Blaze replied. "Kurt wants to change that, don't you Kurt?"

"Um, yes, I do," Kurt was concerned by the desperation he saw in Storm's face.

"I have to report in," Blaze told them, "but you two go ahead. Can I use your computer Ororo?" Storm gave her permission and then led Kurt to a gazebo with a seating area where they could talk. Blaze watched them go before going inside to log on to Ororo's laptop. As she'd thought, Jacobi's wife had not bothered to log off. With no one having access to the apartment, why should she need to? Blaze smiled to herself. This was just the window of opportunity she could use. First things first, she logged into her own emails and sent a request for a private meeting with Jacobi himself. There were things her boss needed to know.

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Arriving back at the Xavier Mansion, Gambit pressed a finger to the security panel and waited for his fingerprint to be scanned so the gate would open. Absently he scratched under his collar at a new burn. Realising what he was doing, he dropped his hand and rearranged his t-shirt to cover the red mark. Then he tried to blank his mind completely. The gate accepted his fingerprint and opened to let him through. Going up to the mansion, Gambit was greeted by a shout from Pyro.

"Hey mate, you got some nerve comin' back here ain't you? You were caught on camera leaving the mansion with Jacobi's li'l pet. Vixen's gonna turn your mind to Vegemite when she sees you!"

"We'll see about dat," Gambit replied, passing the Aussie henchman and heading straight to Vixen's private office. The state of the mansion depressed him as always. The beautiful building had been neglected over recent years to the point that it was an embarrassment. Vixen didn't seem to care about the damp, the mould and the mess. All she cared about was fighting Jacobi and anyone else who stood up for themselves. Gambit was about to do just that.

Opening the door to Vixen's office, Gambit found her waiting for him. She was standing behind her desk, knuckles resting on the polished wood and dark rings under her eyes. Her voice was strained when she asked him, "So?"

"You always said you wanted a spy in Jacobi's camp," Gambit told her calmly. Any sign of weakness now and she would squash him like a fly against a windshield. "I jus' got you one."

"YOU HELPED THAT WENCH ESCAPE!" Vixen roared.

"Now she owes me," Gambit replied. "She'll do exactly what I want her to do, starting with leading us to this weapon o' yours. Ilehana, trust me."

"I'll do no such thing," Vixen replied, but she was calmer this time. "Tell me what your plan is."

"Alright," Remy agreed, taking a seat across the desk from her. "Brace yourself…."

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Following an intense training session with some of the other Brotherhood members, the mutant called Rogue retired to her room. It was late and darkness was descending, but she didn't bother to turn on the light. She thought she was alone, starting to take off her gloves as she crossed the floor. Rogue pulled up short when she noticed a figure stood by the open window. Recognising her visitor she spoke. "What are you doin' here?"

"Got someone who wants to talk to you," Gambit told her, "off the record. Vixen don't need to know, ok?"

"Um…" Rogue replied. Gambit took it as an assent. He grasped Rogue's gloved hand in his and waved to someone outside the window. Rogue had a brief impression of someone short and blue appearing beside Gambit. Then suddenly they were outside the mansion's sprawling grounds, under the cover of a grove of deciduous trees. A girl was waiting, seated casually on a black motorbike with a Bayville District News logo on its flank. Rogue scowled and was about to say something but her attention was diverted as she recognised the small blue figure. "Kurt! I thought you were in Asia with Mystique."

"I am, at least, the me from this world is, at least as far as I know anyway…" Kurt tried to explain but tied himself in knots.

"Easy, Kurt," Remy told him with a chuckle as he extracted his hand from Rogue's. "Start at the beginning, dis one gonna take some convincin' non?" Kurt nodded, and with Rogue's interest piqued he started to tell his story once again. Gambit went to Blaze, who was less than impressed.

"I recruit Jacobi's wife," she told him, "the mother of his children, and the best you can do is a girl with skunk hair? What's she gonna do, stick 'em into submission?"

"It's not a competition," Remy told her.

"No," Blaze agreed, "but I'm winning."

"Kurt's winning," cautioned Gambit.

"Fair point. How did you get on with Vixen?"

"She t'inks I'm using you for the Brotherhood's benefit."

"And are you?"

"Maybe," Gambit refused to be ashamed. "We'll see how it goes huh?"

"Lets," agreed Blaze.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Eight**

The first formal meeting of the newly formed X-Men took place the following day at Magneto's house. Kurt had bamfed Storm away from her penthouse apartment, whilst Gambit and Rogue were supposedly on a mission for Vixen. Blaze was the last to arrive on her bike. When questioned by Magneto why she was late, she freely admitted she'd been in a meeting with her boss. Magneto was concerned. Kurt couldn't see it, but not one of these supposed heroes was here for the greater good.

Storm was desperate to end a loveless marriage to Bayville's most powerful tycoon. Rogue was only here because she had a crush on Gambit, who Magneto didn't trust not to take everything back to Vixen. Blaze would go where the money was, that much was obvious, and Jacobi could offer more than Magneto could compete with. Only Gambit was keeping the girl interested. Whether or not that was because he had information she could sell, Magneto was not sure. Oh Charles, Magneto thought, what would you say if you could see us now?

"There's only one way we can bring the fight to both Vixen and Jacobi," Blaze had decided. "That's to get our grubby mitts on the weapon they both want. The weapon that only I know how to get to…"

"Ambitious," Storm decided, "too ambitious for our first ever mission as a team."

"Then what do you suggest?" Gambit argued. "We start small, maybe a garage sale an' see how it goes from there? I make a mean lemonade, we could see it for fifty cents a glass…"

"Ah'm with Storm," said Rogue. "There's no way we could keep a mission like that from the world's most powerful psychic…"

"Not that powerful," Blaze muttered.

"What do you mean?" Rogue snapped, a lifetime of leaping to Vixen's defence proving a hard habit to break.

"I mean she couldn't get into my head." Blaze answered, but her response was slow and came after a prolonged moment of eye contact with Gambit. Rogue bristled, but Kurt jumped in to lighten the mood.

"You know you two don't get along in my world either," he laughed nervously.

"Hilarious," Magneto said flatly. "Blaze and Gambit are right; we need to announce our intentions and the capture of this weapon will certainly do that. If we move quickly we can remain under the radar to secure the weapon before either side knows we even exist." He looked sharply at both Blaze and Gambit. They both knew he was thinking that if either Vixen or Jacobi made a move, he would know exactly where the information on the mission had come from.

"Tonight then," said Magneto after a moment's pause. "We will meet here at midnight. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Blaze, Gambit and Kurt. Seconds later Storm and Rogue realised they were outvoted. When they also agreed Magneto ended the meeting. The time was set and Bayville's would-be protectors would soon swing into action.

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Ororo lead the way outside, blinking as she stepped into the bright mid-afternoon sunlight. Gambit and Rogue passed her, heading back to the Xavier mansion. Blaze came out of the door carrying her black motorcycle helmet under her arm. She approached Storm and addressed her quietly.

"Ororo, don't go back to Jacobi. Use Kurt, get the kids and hide out here until tonight. Magneto will watch out for you." Blaze fell silent as Kurt came to stand on the doorstep, his image inducer activated. Ororo was concerned but she couldn't think of any reason not to do what Blaze told her. After all, getting away from Jacobi was what she wanted.

"Alright," Ororo agreed. Blaze put on her helmet and got onto her superbike. A kick with her heel started the engine and she accelerated away. Storm turned to Kurt, "I'm sorry to have to ask you Kurt, but I need your assistance. My children will be in their nursery at MediaCity, I would like to bring them here to prevent my husband using them to control me."

"You have children?" Kurt was shocked.

"Yes," Ororo replied with a smile, "two girls. Mischa is four and Nadia is eighteen months old. I do not have children in your world?" Kurt shook his head. "Then I believe I have found the only thing about this world which I prefer to yours. Come, we must hurry before Blaze does anything rash."

"You think she will?" gulped Kurt.

"I believe she might," Ororo was cautious. "I do not know her as well as you do." Kurt pressed his lips together and said nothing. He took Storm by the arm and milliseconds later they were back in Storm's rooftop garden.

"This way," said Storm. She led Kurt into her luxurious apartment, through a set of double doors and down a corridor to a reinforced door with a glass-viewing panel in it. On the other side of the door stood a huge security guard, watched by a host of CCTV cameras. Storm pointed through the window to a matching door beyond the security guard. "Can you teleport us in there?"

Kurt responded by bamfing them across into the other room. Storm led him down another corridor, through another set of double doors and into a brightly coloured nursery. Two nannies looked over, baffled by Storm's unannounced arrival. Storm was immediately pounced on by a bouncing four year old and a slightly-less-steady-on-her-feet toddler. Scooping up her daughters, Ororo turned to address her staff.

"My husband and I will be taking the girls to the cabin in the mountains for a few days. Please pack bags for them both," she said haughtily. The nannies looked like they were about to argue, but then thought better of it and went to pack. Who were they to tell Jacobi's wife what she could and could not do?

"Kurt, take Nadia," Ororo instructed Nightcrawler. Kurt found himself suddenly holding a wriggling toddler who plainly wanted to go back to her mother. Storm was nervous now, and Kurt saw her glance at the CCTV camera in the room more than once. The nannies could not arrive back quickly enough. When they did arrive Kurt wasted no time in grabbing the bags and Storm, and teleporting the whole family back to Magneto's house.

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"Ya know Ah'm not sure about any o' this," Rogue told Gambit as he drove them back to the mansion. "We don't know this isn't a trap, or some kinda plot from Jacobi or even Mystique."

"Do you believe Kurt?" Remy asked her, staring straight ahead at the traffic. He drove Vixen's black jeep, which had its top down and roll-cage exposed.

"I wanna believe him…" Rogue replied. Gambit said nothing. Rogue glanced over at the Cajun before looking away and blushing. "This is nice y'know, just the two of us for a change. If Magneto's plan does come off tonight, maybe we can do this more often?"

"I don't think so Rogue," Gambit was stern, turning into the mansion's driveway.

"What d'ya mean?" Rogue was crestfallen. "If ya don't wanna hang out with me then why did you recruit me for this?"

"You're useful," Gambit said with a shrug. "You can put people in a coma with a touch, steal their powers... I'm sorry Cherie, dat's jus' the way I feel."

Rogue was mortified as Gambit stopped the car and got out. He walked into the mansion without even a backwards glance at the heartbroken Southern Belle. Gambit had always been nice with her before, flattering and attentive despite being Vixen's boyfriend. Now he admitted he was only using her because of her powers? Rogue felt her bottom lip tremble and bit down on it angrily. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. She got out of the car and slammed the door closed behind her. Pyro was coming out of the mansion. He gave a low whistle when he saw her, skirting round her like her bad mood might be catching.

"Whoa Sheila, you need to turn that frown upside down or the wind might change an' you'll stick like that."

"Bite me," Rogue snapped, storming past the Aussie and heading up to her room in distress.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Nine**

Paradox showed Blaze into Jacobi's office, for which she thanked the lanky black man with a sweet smile. Politeness cost her nothing. Jacobi sat behind his colossal steel-and-glass desk, writing something down. Behind him was a selection of plasma TVs, each showing muted broadcasts from across his media network. The TVs were the only light source in the windowless office, lighting Jacobi from behind so his massive frame seemed black and ominous. The pen he wrote with was dwarfed in his hand, whilst the human's neck was almost thicker than Blaze's waist.

Blaze waited in silence, watching for Jacobi to acknowledge her presence. She had the time and she needed him to be impressed with her. Eventually Jacobi put down the pen and looked up at her. With his face in shadow Blaze couldn't tell if her boss was smiling or scowling at her. It was disconcerting, but she fought not to let it show.

"We have a go for tonight," Blaze told him. "I'll use Magneto and the teleporter Nightcrawler to gain access to the SHIELD facility and obtain the weapon. If anything goes wrong and the break-in is rumbled, the plan means you'll be protected and Magneto will take the flak."

"What about the Brotherhood?" Like Blaze, Jacobi spoke with an English accent. Unlike Blaze's rough-and-ready Northern tone, Jacobi's voice was the polished produce of Eton and Oxford.

"Vixen's boyfriend Gambit and her crony Rogue are in on the plan. Even if Gambit has informed Vixen, which I'm pretty sure he will have, she has no choice but to try and intercept the weapon after I lead them to it. If you can hold off until she appears, you'll be able to take the weapon and destroy the Brotherhood's leader in one fell swoop."

"Excellent," praised Jacobi coolly. "I am impressed Blaze. Provided this all goes smoothly, you have a job with this corporation for life. Name the position and it is yours."

"How about your wife?" Blaze asked. She put her hand on her hip and tossed her hair back over her shoulder.

"My wife," Jacobi chuckled. "Now why would a young girl like you want to marry an old codger like me?"

"What _**woman**_," Blaze emphasised the word, "wouldn't want to be the wife of the most powerful man in Bayville?"

"Very flattering," Jacobi sounded pleased, "but you forget Blaze, I already have a wife. I…" Jacobi was interrupted as Paradox ran back into the room.

"Sir, your wife has taken your daughters and…well...disappeared!"

"WHAT?" roared Jacobi, leaping up from his seat, "Show me!" Paradox moved promptly to Jacobi's desk and hit some buttons on a remote control that was lying there. The central TV flickered, bringing up the CCTV footage from the nursery. With the two men glued to the screen, Blaze smiled to herself and made a hasty escape.

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As darkness fell and night settled in, the moon came out in full over a desolate Bayville. No one ventured into the town late anymore. It was too dangerous. There were frequent street battles between the Brotherhood and Jacobi's minions. It was far safer to stay home and watch the drama unfold on one of Jacobi's TV channels. That in turn only fuelled the violence as it made Jacobi money, which he pumped back into hiring more thugs to terrorise Bayville. It was a never-ending cycle. That was why the government organisation SHIELD, having failed to bring either Vixen or Jacobi to heel using legal means, had resorted to bringing in a weapon so powerful it was rumoured to be able to take on both factions at once.

Not that Rogue cared. She was lying on her belly on her bed, hugging her pillow and feeling generally dejected. Tabby had called in earlier when the Southern girl hadn't shown up for training or for dinner. She had left shortly after a torrent of abuse from Rogue, who didn't want any visitors. Boom Boom obviously hadn't passed the message on, because after nightfall another visitor arrived. The first Rogue knew of it was the soft touch of someone's hand on her shoulder. Startled, Rogue jerked upright and was about to shout when she saw who it was.

Gambit put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Offering Rogue a hand he helped her from the bed and went to the window. A wave of his hand brought Nightcrawler, who teleported the two Brotherhood members outside to the waiting jeep.

"Get back to Magneto," Gambit told Kurt. "Tell him we're on our way ok?" Nightcrawler agreed and disappeared. Gambit opened the car door for Rogue, who was stood gaping like a fish.

"You expect me to go with you after what ya said earlier?" she asked him.

"You're still you ain't you?" Gambit replied, but Rogue didn't understand. Rolling his eyes the Cajun spelt it out for her. "I had to get you t'inking 'bout somet'ing else other than the mission, or Vixen find out an' turn both our minds to jambalaya."

"You…you said that stuff to protect me?" Rogue stuttered, getting into the car. Gambit went around the front of the vehicle and climbed into the driver's seat. He started the engine and pulled away before replying.

"And me," Gambit clarified. "Ilehana always been the jealous type Cherie. She been in a fine mood all evenin' since she sensed how upset you were at what I told you."

"Then, did you mean what you said at all?"

"Chere," Remy laughed, "what kind of a fool do you t'ink I am? I ain't gonna burn bridges like that." He glanced at her and tipped her a wink, "Never say never, eh?" Rogue grinned like a Cheshire cat.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The X-Men were waiting for Blaze to arrive in the crèche that was Magneto's sitting room. Mischa and Nadia had filled the floor with toys, whilst the TV was on an endless loop of their favourite pre-school cartoon. Magneto seemed pleased to have the children for company. He bounced Mischa on his lap whilst Storm looked on. Nadia meanwhile had discovered Kurt's tail and was trying desperately to catch it and put it in her mouth.

Uncomfortable with such very small people, Gambit leapt from his chair to greet Blaze as soon as he heard the front door open. When he got to the hallway, he saw that it wasn't Blaze at all. The Scarlet Witch glared at Gambit accusingly. At exactly the same time, Remy and Wanda asked each other, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see my father," Wanda replied.

"Does Ilehana know?" Gambit was concerned.

"No," Wanda replied nervously. "My adopted sister has been distracted all day. I didn't think she would miss me…" There was a rumble of a motorcycle engine from outside, Gambit looked over Wanda's shoulder to see Blaze pull up opposite. She wore black biker leathers that pulled tight as she reached up to take off her helmet. Wanda turned to see what Gambit was looking at and raised an eyebrow. "It seems I'm not the only one sneaking out to meet with someone. What are you up to Gambit?"

"Go ask your father," Remy told her, sidling past her and closing the door behind him. Sensing she wouldn't get a sensible answer from the Cajun, Wanda headed into the lounge. She pulled up short when she almost stepped on a pile of toy alphabet blocks, "Dad?"

"Wanda!" Magneto got up and handed Mischa to Rogue, who held the child at arms length in case she caught something. Magneto came over to Wanda and took his daughter by both hands. "Impeccable timing my dear, we need a babysitter." Unsurprisingly, Wanda gulped.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Ready?" Remy asked Blaze. He stood with his hands in his coat pockets as she applied a coat of lipstick using the bike's nearside mirror.

"I am now," Blaze smiled, capping the lipstick and secreting it on her person. She sat back on the bike and looked up at the Cajun. "Who was that?"

"Magneto's daughter, Wanda," Remy told her. "Storm's kids are in there too, but you probably already knew that."

"Maybe," Blaze admitted, before she changed the subject. "Quite a party… Are we expecting Ilehana to join us as well this evening?" Gambit thought his reply thorough carefully before replying.

"She has a machine called Cerebro that amplifies her telepathy. She knows where to look. As soon as she senses any o' us using our powers she'll be straight there, an' she'll bring back-up."

"Hmm," pondered Blaze as she climbed off the bike. "A magic machine that senses mutants…that's convenient."

"What's dat supposed to mean?" Gambit stepped in front of Blaze, stopping her from leaving and forcing her to lean back on her bike.

"It just sounds handy, that's all," Blaze was blasé. She relaxed her posture, resting her hands behind her on the bike seat and lifting her chin. Silently she cursed herself for even bringing the subject of Gambit's girlfriend up. She wasn't Rogue, she didn't need to get all angsty about this. It was all just a game, wasn't it? She should give him a chance to redeem himself, let him think his cover was still intact. Coyly she asked, "What would Vixen do to you if she knew that you'd kissed me?" The lure worked as Gambit smiled and raised a hand to brush Blaze's cheek.

"If she was in a good mood," Remy told her, "she might only wipe my memory of you."

"Uh-huh," murmured Blaze, practically purring as Gambit's hand ran through her long red curls and he stepped closer to her. "Will she find out, or can you keep pretending?"

"I'd rather waste my life pretending than have to forget you for one whole minute," said Remy, and he sounded genuine. He lifted her chin and was about to kiss her again when Kurt suddenly appeared besides them.

"Oops! Sorry!" Kurt giggled as Blaze pushed Gambit away, feeling slightly embarrassed. "C'mon, Magneto says it's time to move out."

"Fine by me," Blaze said, throwing a leg over her bike and grabbing her helmet. "Just try and keep up…" Helmet on, she rammed down her foot to start the engine and headed off down the street.

"What was that all about?" Storm asked, arriving with Magneto and Rogue. Kurt was about to explain, but Gambit elbowed him hard in the ribs to shut him up.

"Who knows," said Rogue, linking her arm through Remy's, "are we drivin' or are we portin'?"

In response, Kurt reached out and took Rogue and Magneto by the wrist. Magneto offered his arm to Storm who took it graciously. Gambit opened his mouth to ask, "Do you know where…" but before he could finish with "…you're going?" they had arrived outside SHIELD's Bayville facility.

"Form a perimeter," Magneto commanded. "Storm, some cover would be appreciated?"

"Of course Eric," Ororo agreed, letting rip with a sea fog of epic proportions. Within moments, the whole area was submerged in thick cloud and visibility was reduced to mere feet. Gambit detached himself from Rogue and the team split up to surround the building. Minutes later, the roar of a bike engine reverberated through the fog, only to choke and die as Blaze pulled up across the street. Gambit was the first to locate her, finding her talking quickly into a cell phone. He hung back until she had finished the call. Only when he was certain she hadn't seen him watching her did he go forward to greet her.

"Feel better for lettin' off some steam?" he asked her with a smile.

"Yeah," Blaze was sheepish, hurriedly putting her phone in her back pocket before Gambit could see it. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"I know," said Gambit, putting a finger to Blaze's lips to silence her. He lifted her chin and kissed her gently, at the same time easing the cell phone from her back pocket and concealing it in his coat.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Ten**

"I'm gonna go find Magneto," Blaze told Gambit, breaking the kiss. "The sooner we get this started, the sooner it'll be over." Gambit nodded and let her walk away. As soon as she had disappeared, he took out her cell phone and redialled the last number. After two or three rings, a male voice answered, "Hello?"

"We got your kids," Gambit told Jacobi coolly. "Whatever you're plannin' tonight, drop it."

"Really?" Across town, Jacobi chuckled royally. He bounced Mischa in the crook of his arm and tossed a lazy wink in the direction of a trussed Scarlet Witch. Paradox stood over Wanda, preventing her from affecting anything with her powers. Wanda glared back at Jacobi, wishing him dead. "Now, now, Gambit, you should know better than to threaten me. You can tell Magneto and my dear wife that I have their daughters, and let that she-wolf of yours know I have the Scarlet Witch." With that, Jacobi hung up the phone, leaving Gambit speechless.

Blaze had convened with Magneto and the others near the front of the SHIELD building. As Gambit joined them, they were discussing what would happen if Magneto took down the building's security systems with an electro-magnetic blast.

"It would give us no more than a thirty second window," Blaze informed them. "The building has an emergency generator in a shielded room that would kick in after that. The e-generator links directly to SHIELD HQ. Its activation would bring SHIELD agents down on us like a tonne of bricks."

"Can we stop it from activating?" Nightcrawler wanted to know.

"Not easily," Blaze admitted. "There are two switches that have to be deactivated in order to disable the e-generator. They must be deactivated at exactly the same time, within the thirty-second window, or it won't work. And Magneto's EM pulse will deactivate our phones and radios."

"Rogue," said Magneto. "Can you absorb Kurt's power without leaving him unconscious?"

"Ah think so," Rogue said, "but how we gonna know when to push the button?"

"The switch rooms are there and there," said Blaze, pointing up to windows on the second and third storeys of the building. "You should both have a view of the street. Gambit, can you send up a flare as a signal?" Blaze baulked slightly when she turned to Gambit. He was glowering at her with something clutched in his hand that looked suspiciously like her cell phone.

"I'll send up a flare," Remy agreed, not taking his eyes off Blaze. If anyone noticed the tension between the two, they did not mention it. Magneto left immediately, manipulating magnetic fields to raise himself into position above the building ready to disable the security. Rogue whipped off a glove and held out her hand towards Kurt. Kurt gulped as he let his furry blue fingertips brush against Rogue's. Storm caught Nightcrawler as he stumbled backwards, dazed but conscious. Rogue tested her new power briefly, bamfing across the street and back again. Kurt shook his head to clear the stars he was seeing. Then they were ready.

Storm took off, riding the wind to join Magneto in the air above the building. The hairs on the back of Kurt's neck stood up as an invisible magnetic pulse raced down the building. The streetlights flickered and died. Blaze, Gambit, Rogue and Nightcrawler stood in a swathe of fog and surrounded by darkness. As soon as that happened, Rogue and Nightcrawler bamfed into the building to the rooms Blaze had pointed out. Gambit took the moment to turn on Blaze.

"You dropped dis," he told her, handing her cell phone back.

"I doubt that," Blaze accused him, bristling at the invasion of her privacy.

"Gimme one good reason why I shouldn't tell Magneto and Storm dat you sold 'em out to Jacobi?"

"Easy," Blaze replied hotly. "If you do that, neither of us will get the weapon. Throw the flare, now!"

Gambit let rip with a playing card, throwing it straight up into the air. An orange streak zipped through the fog, before exploding in a rain of sparks some ten metres in the air. Inside the building Rogue and Kurt both flicked switches. Blaze did not wait to see if the second generator kicked in. She raised her hands and launched a fireball straight at the building's front doors. There was a flash as the doors were blown apart. As the smoke cleared the doors were black and smouldering, hanging loosely from their hinges. Blaze and Gambit jogged inside, joined seconds later by the others.

"Well that was painless," said Kurt as they crossed the threshold into the building's foyer. The only light came from the full moon, distorted by Storm's fog, as Magneto's EM pulse had disabled everything electrical in the area. In the gloomy foyer smooth concrete floors contrasted with block-work walls. A bank of elevators stood lifeless to the right hand side, whilst straight ahead a concrete staircase with angular steel railings led up into the building. The interior was blank and military. There was not a single feature installed for comfort in the whole of the foyer.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Blaze warned. "We only knocked out the electronic security. The room containing the weapon is more traditionally fortified."

"What about SHIELD patrols?" Storm asked. "Will we come up against resistance?"

"SHIELD patrols are the least of my worries," Blaze replied, glaring daggers at Gambit, "but yes, there should be some."

"Which floor is the weapon located?" asked Magneto.

"Top," the redhead replied. "Elevators will be out. I suggest we take the stairs." Kurt bamfed across the foyer and looked up the stairwell. He blanched, telling the others that there were an awful lot of stairs to climb.

"Whatcha worried about Kurt, ya can just 'port us all to the top?" said Rogue.

"No," Magneto shook his head. "We stay together and go floor by floor. If there are SHIELD patrols I do not want them getting in behind us and cutting off our retreat."

Everyone accepted that this was sensible, heading up the stairs on foot to the first landing. Fanning out, they discovered two SHIELD operatives patrolling the corridor. Gambit and Magneto took the lead. Magneto disarmed them both with a flick of his hand. Gambit ran at them, staff extended, before planting the end of the staff on the floor and spinning round to clout both men solidly in the midriff with his feet. The men gave a collective "Oaf!" and fell backwards into the wall. Storm called up a gale, picked both men up and flung them out of the window. The glass shattered and the men disappeared. The X-Men moved on.

As they reached the third floor, a blood-curdling howl echoed up the stairwell behind them. Kurt and Rogue exchanged a worried look. Magneto muttered, "Ilehana."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Blaze said rhetorically. "Keep moving. I'll head her off."

"Blaze no," protested Storm. "She will telepathically annihilate you!"

"The White Queen and Mastermind shielded my mind," Blaze reminded them. "It worked last time, hopefully it will still work. The only other protection we have from her is Magneto's helmet, and we'll need him to get access to the weapon. If any of you have a better idea I'd love to hear it." Gambit opened his mouth to speak, but Blaze was not interested in what he had to say. If he had told Vixen about Emma Frost's protection then Blaze knew she was dead meat. Before he could say anything Blaze had turned and gone back down the stairs.

"You're going to just let her go?" Kurt was incredulous.

"She has told us all we need to get to the weapon," Magneto replied stoically. "Blaze knows she is buying us the time to act. Standing here debating her actions is not the best way to honour her sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Kurt was aghast, but the others were already moving on. "Gambit, what sacrifice? She's an X-Man, we can't just abandon her! _You_ can't just abandon her!"

"She's bad news Kurt," Gambit told the boy. "We're all better off without her."

"Dude, listen to yourself! You saved her from Ilehana last time, and she has come through for us so far. Do you really want to give up on her so easily?"

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Vixen loped into the SHIELD foyer in her favourite grey wolf form. Besides her strode Pyro with flames belching from the kit that was strapped to his back and arms. Cackling to himself, Pyro formed the fire into two more wolves that raised their fiery heads to the ceiling and howled. He glanced at his leader to see if she was impressed, but Vixen hadn't even noticed. Her hackles were up as she bared her teeth in a snarl. All her focus was on a slender figure on the stairs.

"Is this all you brought," Blaze asked the wolf flippantly, "one half-baked pyromaniac?" Vixen gave a low growl as an instruction Pyro to deal with the girl. The Aussie moved forward, flexing his powers. Blaze feigned disinterest, pausing to examine her perfectly manicured fingernails. Pyro seized his moment and flung an attack of raw flame straight up at Blaze. The darkened foyer was lit up like a summer's day. Pyro cackled, sure that Blaze must be engulfed…

Just at the crucial moment the girl raised a hand and said, "No." The fire stopped, falling back on itself in a wave as though it had hit an invisible force shield. Blaze drew Pyro's fire into a ball, quashing it and absorbing it into her. Pyro could only watch helpless as his best attack dissipated before his eyes. As soon as darkness fell once more, Blaze looked up, pinning Pyro with a fierce gaze. "My turn," she said. She flung out a hand, palm outermost, twisting her wrist in the air. Pyro's fuel tanks exploded. The Aussie was catapulted into the ceiling, bounced off the floor and was ejected back out onto the street. That left Blaze and Vixen-as-Wolf alone in the darkness.

"The way I see it," Blaze told the wolf calmly. "There are two possible reasons why you came here with only that muppet for back-up. You wouldn't be so cocky, not with so much at stake. So either you are completely confident that Rogue and Gambit still work for you and will betray Magneto and the X-Men. Or else you are terrified because Gambit and Rogue really have betrayed you, and you don't know who of else your Brotherhood of Mutants has also been turned against you. Which one is it, Vixen? Who has Gambit betrayed?"

For all her projected calmness Blaze was stalling. Her heart was pounding against her rib cage and she felt sure that even if Vixen-as-Wolf could not read her mind she would be able to smell the fear in Blaze's scent. Before coming to Bayville Blaze would never have defied such a powerful mutant. She was a thief. Her expertise was sneaking about and running away, not being drawn into conflicts she could not win. Yet now here she was again, taking on the world's most powerful telepath so Magneto could get to the weapon. She must be mad, barking even.

Nevertheless, the way Vixen was reacting gave Blaze hope. The wolf shifted her weight from foot to foot, unsure about something. Those massive predatory eyes had a glint of madness and insecurity in them. The wolf was worried. It suddenly dawned on Blaze that maybe she was onto something. Maybe, just maybe, Gambit had betrayed Vixen after all. Even if he hadn't, if Vixen thought he might be tempted then Blaze had all the weapons she needed.

"He's been playing you, Vixen. Gambit's been playing you for a fool and you didn't even know it. You wanted so much to believe that he had helped me escape for your benefit, but you were wrong to forgive him…"

Vixen let the wolf form slip, turning back into the lean blonde as she encroached on the bottom of the stairs. "No," she told Blaze, "no, he wouldn't! Gambit is loyal to me. And I am going to turn your mind into a nest of writhing vipers for insinuating otherwise." There was desperation in her voice, almost as if she feared the rejection of her fellow mutant more than anything.

"Go for it," Blaze told Vixen, clenching her jaw and her fists in readiness for a telepathic onslaught on her mental barriers. Vixen bared her perfect white teeth and her mind leapt across the gap between her and the girl. Vixen expected to have to blast through the leftovers of the telepathic shielding. She was not prepared when, like a matador dodging a bull, Blaze pulled the pathetic remnants of the barrier aside and let Vixen into her mind. Before Ilehana had chance to recover from the shock, Blaze thrust back with several carefully stored memories, crippling Ilehana with the truth.

"No!" Ilehana screamed, recoiling from Blaze's mind almost as quickly as she realised when Blaze was showing her. Blaze in Gambit's strong arms, Gambit catching Blaze by the wrist, Blaze being kissed by Gambit... "No! No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't!" Ilehana could taste the Cajun's lips, feel his hands running through her thick red curls… "NO!" Vixen lashed out with her telepathic anger, aiming a blast right at Blaze. There would be no escape from Ilehana's wrath...


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Eleven**

Bamf! Bamf! Kurt took Blaze by the shoulders and instantly they were gone again. There was a scream of a charged playing card. Vixen had to dive to the floor, covering her head. A resounding thud sounded as the card hit the wall behind Ilehana and exploded. Kurt deposited a shaky Blaze further up the stairs where Gambit waited.

"Here," said Kurt, "I'll get rid of Vixen." Bamf! He ported back down to ground level and took a firm grip on Vixen's collar. Bamf!

"Ooh, wobble…" Blaze giggled, unable to stand upright. The force of Ilehana's wrath might not have struck home entirely, thanks to Kurt's intervention, but it was enough to leave her near hysterical. Gambit caught her by the waist and pulled her close to support her. It took her a few seconds to work out who had hold of her. "Hello."

"Bonjour Petite," Gambit replied with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry Rem," Blaze shook her head, wide-eyed and sorrowful. "I thought you'd betrayed us, but you hadn't. You saved me from her, again. And I…"

"Shush," Gambit told her, putting a finger firmly on her lips. "I don't wanna hear it Chere." And he didn't, he really didn't want to talk to her about the betrayal she had already committed. "You okay?"

"I'm okay," Blaze confirmed, tangling her fingers in the collar of his coat and dropping her eyes shyly. "I'm better than okay."

"Bien," said Gambit, and he meant it. Kurt chose that moment to teleport back into the building.

"I ditched her about a kilometre away," Nightcrawler told them. "It won't take her long to come back. We need to catch up to the others!" Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed both X-Men by the arm and all three were teleported back to Magneto's side.

Whilst Blaze had been sparring with Vixen, Magneto and the others had made it to the uppermost floor of the tower block. Here the staircase opened out onto a mezzanine that spanned three walls. The walls were glass, offering panoramic views over Bayville (when Storm's fog was not surrounding the building). Steel railings guarded the edge of the mezzanine that opened up to show the floor below. The fourth wall was solid metal, containing a double door in its centre that sat flush to the surface. The door had no obvious locking or release mechanisms and there was no control panel. The metal had a dull glow that seemed to pulse in the moonlight. Magneto raised his hand and touched the surface.

"Adamantium," he murmured appreciatively, stroking the metal like he might stroke a cat. Kurt found himself listening for the metal's purr.

"Is it magnetic?" Rogue whispered to Kurt, who nodded. Magneto took his hand away. Raising both arms towards the door, he took hold with his powers and started to pull. Nothing happened. Magneto frowned, briefly lowering his arms as he considered the problem.

"I think the magic word is the elvish for 'friend'," Storm teased Eric gently. He shot her a wry smile, whilst Blaze piped up with the answer.

"The room inside is a vacuum, so it has negative pressure. If you can make a breach the pressure will equalise and you won't have to pull so hard."

"I am glad that Ilehana did not defeat you," Magneto told the girl haughtily. "Or else we may have been stood here a long time." Blaze took the chastisement with a shrug, confident Magneto would have worked it out on his own eventually. Armed with that knowledge Magneto tried a different tactic. He used his power to push through the adamantium like a needle through cloth. There was a hiss as the metal relented and a hole appeared through the centre of one of the doors. Air rushed through the hole, filling the room inside and eradicating the vacuum. Without waiting Magneto took hold of the doors again and opened them with minimal effort.

In contrast to the rest of the building, the room inside the box was blindingly bright. White strip lights in the ceiling reflected off the white ceramic tiles that covered walls and floor. The dull hum of a generator buzzed behind the walls. The X-Men winced, squinting until their eyes grew accustomed to the sudden change in brightness. When their vision cleared, they saw a room five metres square and in the centre stood a huge glass tube over one metre in diameter. The tube was standing on a plinth containing numerous consoles and buttons. Green fluid almost filled the tube, which disappeared into the ceiling. Inside the tube, suspended in the fluid and plugged into various snaking black cables, hung the weapon they had come for. Weapon X.

"Weapon X is a man?" Storm gasped, going to examine the captive. His dark hair spun like seaweed in the gently undulating liquid. His eyes were closed and he was as unresponsive as if he was dead. Only the bubbles that sometimes escaped from the air fed mask that covered his nose and mouth showed that he breathed. He was naked except for a pair of shorts, whilst from the backs of each of his hands sprouted three adamantium claws.

"No," Magneto spoke coolly. "Anything that was human has been driven from the weapon a long time ago. The only emotion that remains is rage. SHIELD brought him to Bayville in the hope that the very threat of his presence would bring peace. The same thing has been tried before, and it rarely does anything except accelerate the path to war…"

Magneto's speech was cut short by a sudden incursion of noise. The X-Men turned to look behind them. A sleek black helicopter rose to hover just outside the windows. Its rotors churning up the air like a hurricane. Masked, armed men leant out of the side of the 'copter and fired weapons at the glass. Grapping hooks punched through, tangling on the mezzanine railing. Zip wires were deployed and the armed men kicked their way through. The shattered glass tinkled down the building. The gust of wind from the churning rotors nearly sucked the X-Men off their feet. Gambit's coat, Magneto's cloak and the girls' hair billowed wildly in the gale.

"SHIELD!" screeched Rogue above the din.

"Worse!" Gambit pointed out, "It's Jacobi!"

The armed men crouched on the mezzanine, targeting the X-Men with laser-sighted semi-automatic guns. Another man left the helicopter, using the zip wire to slide across into the building. As soon as he landed, someone in the 'copter released the zip wires and the helicopter climbed steeply. The wind subsided as the newcomer stood up. Alessandro Jacobi brushed down his smart suit absently, and then turned his attention to the renegade mutants in front of him.

"Blaze," Jacobi ordered. The fire elemental obediently left the Weapon X chamber and crossed to her boss' side. Kurt and Storm cried out wordlessly in dismay, but Gambit just shook his head and looked away. He'd known this would happen. Magneto was also not shocked, but Rogue was angry and she wanted Blaze to know it, "Traitor! Ah hope you rot in Hell for this!"

"I'm not a traitor," Blaze said softly, but no one cared what she thought.

"I'm surprised that 'copter could take your weight Jacobi," Gambit taunted the older man. "Never mind the zip wire, eh? Ever t'ought of tryin' a diet, or maybe some exercise?"

"Step aside Gambit," Jacobi told the mutant in a bored voice. "Do tell your associates why they should stand down. Honestly, I give you a simple message to pass along and you can't even manage that."

"What message?" Magneto growled.

"He got your daughters," Gambit belatedly admitted to Storm and Magneto. "Blaze sold us out."

"Alessandro," Storm tried to plead with her husband. "Please, don't hurt the girls, I beg you…"

"I'm disappointed in you Ororo," Jacobi said. "You had everything you could possibly need or even dream of as my wife. Yet this is how you repay me? The girls are mine now, you won't see them again." Storm baulked as she stared in terror at Jacobi. He frightened and dominated her. She did not know how she had ever found the courage to go against him like this.

"Leave her alone!" Rogue stepped in front of Storm and tugged off her gloves. There was a clicking noise as the armed men cocked their weapons and the red dots of the laser sights danced briefly before coming to rest on the X-Men again.

"You _Homo sapiens_ and your guns," Magneto drawled. He lifted a hand to disarm the men. Instead he found himself flying backwards through the room to strike the wall behind him. One of the armed men stood up and threw off his black mask. It was Paradox.

"What are the chances?" Jacobi chuckled. "This adamantium shell runs under the tiles, all around the room you are in. By using your powers you appear to have stuck yourself to it. Magneto, you are as hopeless today as you have ever been."

"No!" cried Gambit, lurching forward to avenge his friend. There was a crack as one of Jacobi's men fired his weapon at the Cajun. Gambit barely had time to register his mistake before a weight hit his chest and sent him tumbling backwards. His head struck the tiled floor, his eyes shutting as pain reverberated in his skull. The other X-Men froze, holding up their hands in surrender. Jacobi smiled. Weapon X was his.

Lying on the floor with stars dancing about his head, it took Gambit a handful of seconds to realise that his chest did not hurt. There was no pain from the bullet, only a dead weight lying across him. He opened his eyes and rolled over, pushing the weight out of the way. To his amazement and horror the dead weight that had hit him was Blaze. She had leapt in front of him, taking the bullet that would have killed him. A lump grew in his throat as he pulled her towards him, cradling her unresisting form. She'd saved him but at what cost to herself? He brushed back a curl from her brow, looking for any sign of life. It was then that Blaze opened her eyes and winked at him.

Blaze could have laughed aloud at the surprise on Gambit's face, but that would have given the game away. She had not been in any real danger because her biker's leathers were reinforced with bulletproof Kevlar. Knowing Jacobi's plans for the evening she had thought it prudent. Now everything was coming together nicely. Still she needed a distraction if she was going to bring her plans to fruition and live to tell the tale.

A distraction was imminent. As Jacobi ordered the remaining X-Men to back up against the wall, there was a keening cry from outside the broken window. A massive black shape loomed, the silhouette of a swooping eagle owl. Ilehana-as-Owl soared through the broken window and perched on the mezzanine railing. Instantly she morphed into a seven metre long Burmese python. Wrapping a loop of her torso through the railing, she lashed out with her tail and neck. The snake twined her body about tow of Jacobi's minions and began squeezing the life out of them.

Paradox dared not interfere with Vixen or he risked losing his hold on Magneto. Jacobi himself was driven back by a blast of wind. Released from her sharpshooter's sights, Storm called up a gale that whipped around the two rooms. It sucked two more of Jacobi's men out of the broken window and deafened everyone with its howl. Kurt bamfed and the bullet meant for him hit the far wall harmlessly. Nightcrawler reappeared and grabbed Rogue's hand. They vanished, reappearing behind Paradox. Rogue took off her glove and reached out to touch Paradox, but one of Jacobi's remaining minions shot at them and Kurt had to teleport them to safety…

As soon as Vixen had appeared and the kafuffle began, Blaze made her move. She used Gambit as a human shield, hiding her actions from anyone who might want to stop her. When the bullet had struck her, she and Gambit had landed next to the great glass tank containing Weapon X. Now she rolled over and put her hand to the metal panels at the base of the control station. Using her powers she melted the panel, making it soft so she could tug it off and throw it away. Underneath was a mass of green circuit boards and yellow and red wiring. Blaze hesitated, comparing the wiring with the schematics she had memorised back at the Town Hall.

"Need a hand?" Gambit asked her. He was sitting close to her, offering a pair of wire cutters he had produced from his coat pocket. Blaze glanced at him to make sure he understood what she was about to do.

"You should make a run for it now," she told him. "There's no going back once I've done this."

"We'll run together Petite," Gambit told her grimly. Blaze didn't argue. Just as the fight behind them was getting really out of hand she made her final roll of the dice. She cut a single wire and all Hell broke loose.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, nada, zip

**Scene Twelve**

There was a hiss and a gurgle as the tank started to drain. In the middle of the suspension Weapon X twitched once, twice, and then his eyes fluttered open. Rage filled the captive, a rage so powerful he ripped through the cords that fastened him into the machine. Flexing his arms he made a double swipe with his adamantium claws. The glass shattered and green solution flooded through the gap. Blaze and Gambit were up and running, refusing to look back. Their feet slipped on the slick floor, but they helped each other and made it through the doors.

They barrelled into one of Jacobi's men. The minion started to object but then saw what they had done and thought better of it. He took a running leap, vaulting over the railing and dropping to the floor below. That released Kurt and Rogue, who ported back to suck Paradox's powers dry. Paradox fell into a Rogue-induced coma, in turn releasing Magneto. Just as Weapon X was stepping from the tank Eric used his powers to haul him back. Magneto exited the room backwards whilst holding Weapon X in place.

Meanwhile Vixen dropped the bodies of her victims and morphed again. Jacobi was frozen, staring at Weapon X. He had his back to the wolf as she launched herself at her enemy. The force of Vixen hitting his back knocked Jacobi over. The two foes tumbled together, teeth and fists and claws flailing. They rolled across the threshold of the adamantium room. Magneto braced himself, forcing Weapon X away from the two as they battled it out.

"Eric!" Gambit shouted, "close the doors!" Magneto gave Gambit a concerned look, but the Cajun was deadly serious.

"Magneto!" Blaze cried out, "Now!"

Magneto needed no more encouragement. He dropped his control of Weapon X, directing his powers instead to close the doors. On the floor of the adamantium room, Vixen and Jacobi looked up in shock as Weapon X was released upon them. A flash of adamantium claws was all that it took. Then… silence….

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Are you there?" Blaze spoke softly into her cell phone, unwilling the break the deathly quiet that hung over the mezzanine.

"I am," Emma Frost, the White Queen, replied. "You were right to think Jacobi would use me to control Wanda. You can tell Magneto and Storm that their girls are all fine. We will be waiting for you when you get back."

Blaze nodded, a useless gesture when on the phone. Then she hung up. Looking round the room she saw Rogue and Kurt propping a groggy Paradox up against the wall. Magneto and Storm were watching Blaze distrustfully. All of Jacobi's minions were long gone, dead or run away. Gambit was stood by the adamantium doors with his forehead resting on the cool metal. His shoulders were slumped and Blaze couldn't be sure he wasn't weeping. She felt rotten to the pit of her stomach, like an apple riddled with worms.

"Your daughters are fine," Blaze told the worried parents quietly. "Emma Frost is with them. She's been working with SHIELD to infiltrate Jacobi's organisation, so we can trust her."

"How do you know that?" Storm said.

"I… used your computer with its high-level access to run a scan on emails throughout Jacobi's organisation, to see if there were any moles I could use." Blaze replied. "It worked. I'm sorry I had to make you think I'd turned traitor on you. I had to lure Jacobi here tonight or else we never would have got near the slimy worm. The only way to do that was to make him think he was winning."

"You did well," Magneto gently praised the girl. "As did Gambit. I believe the two of you had more or less the same plan in motion at the same time, albeit with different targets."

"He looks awful," Blaze was nearly in tears herself. "What do I do?"

"Give him time," advised Magneto. "He is in mourning, as am I. Believe it or not Vixen, was not always so…"

"Neither was Alessandro," Storm was suddenly hit by the gravity of what had happened. She was a widow. "He could be so good with the girls…" She turned away. Magneto went after her, placing a solemn hand on her shoulder. "I'll sell the company," Ororo decided. "Break it up. No one should be able to control all the media in Bayville. The money can be better used providing for the next generation."

"An old friend of mine once had a dream of an institute where mutant children could find solace and training…" prompted Eric.

"It sounds wonderful," Ororo agreed, "but where could we start such a venture?"

Gambit had overheard them all, though he hadn't shown it until now. He turned away from the door and wiped his face on his coat sleeve. Then he addressed Magneto with a croaky voice.

"Ilehana left the mansion to you, Eric. It in her will. You could start your institute there."

Blaze went to Gambit and hesitantly took his hand in hers. He didn't resist. Magneto and Storm looked to one another and came to an agreement. Charles Xavier's dream would live. The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters would be founded in Bayville.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"This the loser who 'ported ya here Kurt?" Rogue asked.

"That's the guy," Kurt agreed. They stood over the woozy Paradox, both teens in no mood for an argument with their captive.

"Ya listen here Paradox," Rogue grabbed the mutant by the front of his shirt and gave him a small shake. "A Paradox from a different timeline blasted Kurt an' ported him to this world. Now you're gonna send him back again."

"What makes you think I can do that?"

"Ya gonna do it, or I'm gonna put you so deep in a coma ya ain't never gonna see the light of day again."

"Sounds fair," Paradox reasoned, levering himself up into a sitting position. "Brace yourself boy."

"Wait!" Kurt interrupted. "I need to know how to beat you in my world?"

"She not with you?" Paradox nodded towards Rogue. Kurt shook his head.

"Then try a mirror," Paradox replied. Before Kurt could ask him if he was serious, a blast of purple energy hit him and he teleported…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

…back to the docks, barely ten feet from where he had been when he started. Paradox was fighting with Vixen, who didn't seem able to hold an animal form. She slipped from wolf to alligator to owl to snake… It was painful to watch, never mind to go through but she kept up the barrage with tooth, claw or whatever appendage she had to hand. With Vixen so close to the renegade mutant, Blaze and Gambit's ranged attacks were useless. Kitty came running to Kurt's side to see if he was ok. His reply completely confused her.

"A mirror?" Kitty asked, "Why?"

"D'you have one?" Kurt repeated.

"No, I…"

"Kurt!" Blaze produced a compact mirror, tossing it through the air to him. Kurt caught it in two three-fingered hands. Paradox saw what they were doing, shoved Vixen out of the way and went to blast Kurt before he could get the mirror open. Suddenly there was a flash as the silver glass reflected the blast of Paradox's power right back at the mutant. Before Paradox could even cry out, the blast struck him and he disappeared.

"Is that… it?" Kitty didn't quite believe their luck.

"Kurt, where did you learn a trick like that?" Blaze asked, impressed.

"Paradox told me," Kurt replied, coming over all weak at the knees. Blaze and Kitty had to catch him between them before he collapsed. "Phew, am I glad that's over."

"You and me both," Vixen replied with a kindly Xavier smile. She had retaken human form and was dusting off her palms decisively. "You and me both… Now let's go home."

Roll credits……………………………………………


End file.
